Aircon not working :-( Any ideas?

Hey all. Ok, my aircon was working fine a few weeks ago then stopped blowing cold while I was on the motorway. I assumed/hoped it just needed a re-gas. Took it to Kwiksquit and they re-gassed but said it still wasn't blowing cold but may take a while for the gas to circulate. There was no improvement but when I next looked under the bonnet I noticed there was no aircon belt! Just a few shredded bits of one lying around. Replaced belt and as I said on an earlier post, found that the lower pulley bearing had seized. Got a replacement from a nice man on Ebay, put it on and refitted the belt. Sorted I thought but no, it still doesn't blow cold Don't know nuffink about aircon so not sure what to check (300TDi). What I do notice is that when I press the switch in, the light comes on it but there's no clunk or noise or dip in revs or anything that would suggest that something is starting up (Compressor/aircon unit/motor/thingy!?) Can anyone suggest what I could check before I have to pay someone loadsa dosh that I haven't got to sort it? Sunny Spain may be a bit toooo sunny if I don't get this sorted!
Thank you for any suggestions
Richard

Switch your air con on. Open the bonnet and wait for the compressor to kick in.

If it does, check the sight glass on top of the reciever/ dryer to see if there is any gas in the system, you should see the gas bubbling.

The reciever/dryer is in front of the compressor.

If there is no gas then you have a leak.

If nothing works then suspect the relay, if the clutch has seized there is also an overload cut out that will switch off power to the system.

locket said:

Switch your air con on. Open the bonnet and wait for the compressor to kick in.

If it does, check the sight glass on top of the reciever/ dryer to see if there is any gas in the system, you should see the gas bubbling.

The reciever/dryer is in front of the compressor.

If there is no gas then you have a leak.

If nothing works then suspect the relay, if the clutch has seized there is also an overload cut out that will switch off power to the system.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the tips! Where is the overload cut out, do you know? I have yet to check and confirm but I don't think the compressor is coming on. I checked the 60amp fuse and that appears fine.......oh just thought of the relay you mentioned...hmmm can that be checked?

Currently no joy on this, come on all you aircon experts! I can hear the relay clicking when I switch on the aircon. I can't find the sight glass and as I say, nowt seems to "come on" under the bonnet when I switch it on.

sp33der said:

Took it to Kwiksquit and they re-gassed but said it still wasn't blowing cold but may take a while for the gas to circulate. There was no improvement but when I next looked under the bonnet I noticed there was no aircon belt! Just a few shredded bits of one lying around.
Richard

Click to expand...

take it back to kwik**** and demand a refund , you cant regass the system if the compressor aint spinning cos the belt is missing . the first thing they ( are supposed to ) do after refilling the system and checking for leaks is to run the system to circulate the gas . hope that helps

darrenwall said:

take it back to kwik**** and demand a refund , you cant regass the system if the compressor aint spinning cos the belt is missing . the first thing they ( are supposed to ) do after refilling the system and checking for leaks is to run the system to circulate the gas . hope that helps

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Yep that's on the agenda for the weekend. But in the meantime chaps, assuming I'm still left with a non functioning aircon...suggestions please!... I can't even find the sight glass

locket said:

Switch your air con on. Open the bonnet and wait for the compressor to kick in.

If it does, check the sight glass on top of the reciever/ dryer to see if there is any gas in the system, you should see the gas bubbling.

The reciever/dryer is in front of the compressor.

If there is no gas then you have a leak.

If nothing works then suspect the relay, if the clutch has seized there is also an overload cut out that will switch off power to the system.

Click to expand...

Pleeeeease can somebody tell me where the sight glass is on me 95 300TDi? I can't see it! Maybe I'm blind? Stupid? I assume the compressor is the thing that is driven by the aircon belt? And does somebody know how I can tell if the aircon is switching on? This is the last time I'll ask, I'll admit defeat if no-one can help and pay some bugger to look at it

I guess nobody knows. Well, I hear that a lot of aircons won't work without gas in them which could be why mine doesn't appear to come on at all. I will try and get back to kwikcrap and get them to try a re-gas and if that doesn't sort it, at least get me money back of em. My local(ish) indie Landy place has given me an allegedly very good, thorough and honest mobile aircon man's number and I'll get in touch with him if necessary.

So, there are a few things that you might want to look at with the air con, what has already been mentioned is checking the reciever dryer this is a metal clyindrical unit and has a glass 'window' at the top of it. It will have metal pipes comming in and out of it. Another problem that I has with my air con is the temperature gauge stopped working, my disco had a custom kit put on it and the temp gauge for that was behind the passangers footwell, this not working causes will mean that the compressor will not kick in because the temp gauge isnt telling it the temperature.

If you would like a proper air conditioning company in your area the best company to call is Autoclimate, they have a service center search facility, if you give them your postcode they can tell you where to go. Hope this helps

glochhead said:

So, there are a few things that you might want to look at with the air con, what has already been mentioned is checking the reciever dryer this is a metal clyindrical unit and has a glass 'window' at the top of it. It will have metal pipes comming in and out of it. Another problem that I has with my air con is the temperature gauge stopped working, my disco had a custom kit put on it and the temp gauge for that was behind the passangers footwell, this not working causes will mean that the compressor will not kick in because the temp gauge isnt telling it the temperature.

If you would like a proper air conditioning company in your area the best company to call is Autoclimate, they have a service center search facility, if you give them your postcode they can tell you where to go. Hope this helps

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Ta. Took it to Kwikcrap today and their machine sez I got a leak in me system, wouldn'ta shown up last time I guess as there was no belt on the compressor. Oh well, better get a very nice man in to fix it.

hi there im an aircon engineer but not on cars (albeit the system is very similar) there is no way that you can regass a system properly without the compressor running, so if your belt was missing then the cannot have put enough gas in and they definately should have noticed the belt. my first guess would be the thermostat, im presuming if this works fine it will power the relay which when working correctly will activate the fans and compressor clutch, and thus the compressor will pump the gas round the system, you wont see the gas bubbling in the drier sightglass untill the compressor is running as the gas wont be moving, when running the sightglass should fill so much it will eventuall go clear with only some bubbling, if it is bubbling loads or only half full then it hasn't got enough gas in. so to simplify check the thermostat, then relay, then check the clutch is pulling in (should be reasonable obvious if it is) then check the gas charge. sorry if this is vauge as i only bought my disco on saturday.

Thanks. Ok, there's no sight glass on my 95 TDi300. I had a mobile aircon guy round today, he found there was a fuse blown - 30 amp one under the bonnet, probably went when the lower pulley siezed and eventually snapped the belt I reckon. So that's sommat else kwikcrap missed. Anyway, re-fused and system vacuum tested, no leaks found despite that kwikcrap said. System now regassed and oiled plus ultra violet (or is it infra red?) additive in it in case of future leaks. Working fine - bloody freezing! Just need some warm weather now....doh! Now I have to have a word with Mr Kwikcrap to get my money back for a system they twice tried to regass when it wasn't working....

benj said:

hi there im an aircon engineer but not on cars (albeit the system is very similar) there is no way that you can regass a system properly without the compressor running, so if your belt was missing then the cannot have put enough gas in and they definately should have noticed the belt. my first guess would be the thermostat, im presuming if this works fine it will power the relay which when working correctly will activate the fans and compressor clutch, and thus the compressor will pump the gas round the system, you wont see the gas bubbling in the drier sightglass untill the compressor is running as the gas wont be moving, when running the sightglass should fill so much it will eventuall go clear with only some bubbling, if it is bubbling loads or only half full then it hasn't got enough gas in. so to simplify check the thermostat, then relay, then check the clutch is pulling in (should be reasonable obvious if it is) then check the gas charge. sorry if this is vauge as i only bought my disco on saturday.

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I hear where you are coming from with this. But usually the semi skilled air con engineers (ones that have been on a 2 day course) don't charge a system by the sight glass or gauges. they have a machine which will pull a vacuum and then dump in the weight of charge for that particular vehicle.
They may have been on a break when the bit about looking at the drive belt was being taught